Cotton picker&#39;s sack



April 9 1935. v. H. FAIRLESS COTTON PICKERS SACK Filed Oct. 6, 1932 Vr H. Fwzm attorneys Patented Apr. 9, 193 5 UNITED STATES COTTON PICKERS SACK Victor H. Fairless, Detroit, Mich., assignor to D.

Odell Fairless,

Application October 6,

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in cotton pickers sacks and has for an object to provide an improved sack for use in the harvesting of cotton where the sacks are elongated and trail upon the ground after the pickers.

Such sacks are subjected to a great amount of wear as to those parts which encounter the ground.

Ordinarily, the sack has to be discarded after a short period of time and it is an object of the invention to prolong the life of the "sack by providing for its reversibility.

While it has been proposed broadly to reverse cotton pickers sacks, this desirable purpose has never been attained with any degree of commerci'al success, andit is the primary object of the present invention to achieve this purpose by constructing the sack in an inexpensive way andjcon'structing it by an improved and simple method which will admit of the ready reversibility of the sack without entailing any great expense in original manufacture or in revising the same for the reversing operation.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention will be described more particularly in the following specification and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing, in which like parts are denoted by the same reference characters throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an improved cotton pickers sack constructed according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary View of the bottom portion of the sack shown broken open for reversal, and

Figure 3 is a similar view of the upper portion of the sack shown as folded and secured in closed position in readiness for the reversing operation.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, 5 represents a tubular flexible bag body, which will be constructed generally of canvas or duck or the like and which will ordinarily have seams at both sides 6 and l. g

The ends of this elongated bag body are both openable and each end is formed with two flaps 8 and 9, the flaps being advantageously formed from the same material as the bag body 5 and being continuations of the same. The flaps 8 and 9 are separated as to their outer edges and also as to the side .edges thereof, there being I slits formed longitudinally of the bag body be-. tween the side edges of the fiaps 8 and 9 for a Trenton, Tenn.

1932, SerialNo. 636,570

desired distance into the end portions of the bag body, for instance, about six or eight inches. The crotches of these slits are indicated at ID. The outer transverse free edges of the slits 8 and 9 are appropriately reinforced, as are also the side edges bordering upon the slits.

The outer free edge of each flap carries two fastening members. In-the instance shown, this fastening member consists of a canvas loop ll, such loops being adapted to detachablyengage the wire or otherhooks I2 on the ends of a shoulder strap It or otherappropriate suspension'mernber,'whereby the sack may be suspended and trailed along from the person of the picker as he walks through the field.

As shown in the upper portion of Figure l, the flaps at the upper portion of the bag body are left open with the hooks of the shoulder strap engaging the loops of one of the flaps, for instance the flap 8. The other flap .9I.is turned down outwardly upon the sack body 5 and serves to pull the tubular bag body open, thus forming a wide mouth in which the cotton may be more readily introduced into the body of the sack.

As shown in the lower portion of Figure 1, and in Figure 3, the other end of the bag body is shown as secured in a closed position. It will be understood, however, that the bottom end is adapted to be broken out in the manner indicated in Figure 2 when the bag body is to be inverted, or in other words when the bottom is to be changed about and engaged with the shoulder strap it while the flaps 3 and 9 shown uppermost in Figure 1 are closed in order to become the bottom of the sack when so inverted.

The closed end of the sack is effected by one or more lines of transverse stitching I4 supplemented by longitudinal lines of stitching [5 by which the flaps at the outer portions and the side portions are effectively secured togther and closed. The bag may be turned inside-out before this stitching operation is performed, and after the stitching operation the bag is then turned back so that the reinforced free end portions of the flaps appear as shown in Figure 3, the same being in-turned and the side edges of the flaps being also inturned in order to receive the stitching l5.

In this way the stitching is protected and the closed end of the bag body is to all appearances seamless, the seams not being subject to contact with the ground as the bag is drawn thereover. The loops l I are also protected as being contained within the bag body so that they will not catch on parts of the plants or other obstructions which would tend to not only wear but tear out the loops.

Now the lines of stitching l terminate short of the seams 6 and l, as shown at [6 in Figure 3, leaving gaps I! from the end portions l8 of the seams. These gaps serve as a visual signal to indicate where the ripping operation is to be begun and they serve the further function of separating the seams from the stitching IS in order that the ripping operation to be performed upon the stitching l5 will not be inadvertently carried over into the seams 6 and I. When the bag has been worn upon one side, it is reversed or simply turned over and then used until the other side becomes worn; whereupon the bag is inverted, the closed lower end being ripped out as to the stitches I4 and I5, enabling the flaps to be opened out. The previously opened end of the bag is then closed by lines of stitching such as M and [5. At this point, however, the stitching [5 may be carried down to the seams, if desired, as the bag will be consumed by use after it has been reversed as to this end, and it will not be necessary in future to rip out such stitching l4 and I 5 as has been made in the initially opened end of the bag.

In attaining the quadruple use of the bag, itis at no time necessary to cut away any used portion of the bag. Such a method of cutting away construction, combination and arrangement of parts could be made, which could be used without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I do not mean to limit the invention to such details, except as particularly pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent of the United States is:

1. An improved cotton pickers sack comprising a tubular sack body having a closed bottom and an open upper end, a pair of flaps secured to diametrically opposite sides of the sack body, and a pair of loops secured to the free edge of one of said flaps and disposed inwardly of the side edges thereof, said loops adapted to be engaged by a shoulder strap whereby the loop carrying flap is held smoothly against the wearer and the other flap freely hangs down to provide a large open mouth into which the cotton may be thrust, said closed bottom including a second pair of flaps, and means for securing said second pair of flaps together, said securing means terminating outwardly of thelower end of the body.

2. An improved cotton pickers sack comprising a pair of body members, securing means for securing the longitudinal edges of the members together, a pair of flaps extending longitudinally of one end of the members, each of said flaps having confronting out out portions on opposite side edges thereof adjacent the inner ends of the flaps, securing means for securing the flaps together to provide an extension of said body members, fastening means carried by each flap, a second pair of flaps on the upper ends of the members, and fastening means carried by said second pair of flaps, said out out portions of said first pair of flaps providing a guide means to facilitate separating said first pair of flaps.

VICTOR H. FAIRLESS. 

